1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a tape processing apparatus which cuts a printed portion of a tape by a sliding movement and ejects the portion outside the apparatus.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, as this kind of a tape processing apparatus, there is known a tape printing apparatus which has a print-feed mechanism feeding a tape and printing thereon, a cutting mechanism cutting a printed portion of the tape (a tape piece) by sliding a cutter blade, and a single driving motor driving the print-feed mechanism and the cutting mechanism selectively via a clutch mechanism. JP A-2003-237155 is an example of related art. In this tape printing apparatus, a printing process is performed by the print-feed mechanism with rotating the driving motor in a normal direction and switching the clutch mechanism thereto. After the printing process, a cutting process is performed by the cutting mechanism with rotating the driving motor in a reverse direction and switching the clutch mechanism thereto.
However, in the tape printing apparatus described above, the apparatus is not so constructed that the tape piece after cutting off is not ejected forcibly outside the apparatus. In a case where an ejecting path from the cutting mechanism to an ejecting slot is long or where a tape length of the tape piece is short, the tape piece may not be certainly ejected outside the apparatus.
Also, in a case where an ejecting mechanism is provided in the tape printing apparatus described above to eject the tape piece forcibly, it is necessary to provide an ejecting drive motor for driving the ejecting mechanism or a power transmission mechanism from the ejecting drive motor to the ejecting mechanism, leading to a bulky apparatus and a complex structure therein.